June 23, 2015

Mike Cowell, a senior pitcher on Shelton High baseball team, has been voted our UChoose Student-Athlete of the Spring for the 2014-15 school year!

The Fordham-bound righthander went 8-1 this season with a 0.93 ERA and 101 strikeouts with just 12 walks in 68 innings. He was the spring’s first UChoose Student-Athlete of the Week after pitching a no-hitter and striking out 15 against Branford. He was nominated a second time after pitching another no-hitter May 26 in the first round of the SCC tournament, shutting out eventual Class L champion North Haven 3-0 in the SCC quaterfinals, and was named the SCC player of the year. Mike was no slouch at the plate either: he hit .406 with three homers and 16 RBI.

We featured Mike during the spring on a Best in Connecticut Sports Spotlight (above).

Our other spring honorees: Amity softball player Katie Koshes, New Milford girls lacrosse player Marisa McLaughlin, North Branford softball player Lindsay Golia, Northwest Catholic girls lacrosse player Lauren Cenci, Middletown softball player Kelsey White, Joel Barlow-Redding pitcher Mark Raymond, Wilton High pitcher JT Morin, Wilton High runner Spencer Brown and East Lyme pitcher C.J. Leindecker.

Our UChoose Student-Athletes of the Week for winter 2014-15:

Greenwich boys basketball player Conor Harkins, Holy Cross-Waterbury girls basketball player RaShana Siders, Fairfield co-op boys hockey player Jake Fuss, Northwest Catholic boys hockey player Anthony Ceolin, Northwest boys basketball player Christian Thomas, Masuk-Monroe boys basketball player Bryan Acevedo, New Fairfield/Immaculate hockey player Peter Masi, Simsbury boys basketball player Rayon Christie, Greenwich boys hockey Matt Lodato, Wilbur Cross runner Danae Rivers and Notre Dame-Fairfield girls basketball player Kayla Croswell, Simsbury boys hockey player Ben Levin and Canton girls basketball player Emily Briggs. Our athlete of the winter was Branford boys hockey player Tyler Criscuolo.

Our fall 2014 winners:

Fairfield Warde girls soccer player Taylor Gabrenas, Cheshire girls volleyball player Jillian Haberli, Torrington boys soccer player Kevin Vaca, Cheney Tech-Manchester quarterback Rafael Lebron, Maloney-Meriden soccer player Ricardo Lopez, Danbury boys soccer goalie Ian Shannon, Northwest Catholic-West Hartford running back Delano Robinson, Derby’s Ben Slowik, Norwich Free Academy’s Jawaun Johnson, Valley Regional’s Andrew Tuscano, Windsor’s John Nolan.

Click here on our guidelines for the award.

June 17, 2015

Our nominees for CPTV Sports’ UChoose Student-Athlete of the Spring for 2015! Voting ends Tuesday at noon , so choose your favorite now and tell your friends and fellow fans to vote, too!

* Please note: Vote totals do not immediately update in our database. Check back every 5 to 10 minutes and refresh your screen to see the latest vote totals.

This week's voting for UChoose Student-Athlete of the Week has closed. We'll announce the winner later Tuesday. CPTVSports UChoose is brought to you by Hartford Healthcare #ChooseHHC

•Lauren Cole - Hand-Madison girls lacrosse
The Fairfield University-bound senior attacker scored 128 goals with 32 assists for the SCC champions. She had eight goals in Hand’s 18-6 win over Guilford in the SCC title game streamed LIVE on CPTVSports.org and three in the Tigers’ 13-7 loss to New Canaan in the Class M final that premieres Thursday June 18 at 7:30 p.m.

•Mike Cowell - Shelton baseball
The Fordham-bound righthander went 8-1 this season with a 0.93 ERA and 101 strikeouts with just 12 walks in 68 innings. He was the spring’s first UChoose Student-Athlete of the Week after pitching a no-hitter and striking out 15 against Branford. He was nominated a second time after pitching another no-hitter May 26. He also shut out eventual Class L champion North Haven 3-0 in the SCC quaterfinals. Mike was no slouch at the plate either: he hit .406 with three homers and 16 RBI.

•Ashley Guillette – -Oxford softball
The Coastal Carolina-bound senior righthander pitched 21 shutouts this season, including three in a row in the Class M tournament as the Wolverines won their second title in three years. Ashley capped off her season by scattering three hits, striking out 10 and hitting a three-run double to lead Oxford to a 4-0 win over previously unbeaten St. Joseph-Trumbull in the Class M final. It capped off an impressive tournament run for Ashley, who pitched a perfect game in a quarterfinal win over Rocky Hill and a no-hitter in the semifinals against Tolland. St. Joe’s entered last Friday’s final averaging 8.8 runs hile going 26-0. Ashley is a three-time Student-Athlete of the Week nominee this spring.

•Karl Liapunov – Ridgefield boys volleyball
The three-time All-State senior outside hitter’s outstanding 2015 campaign (204 kills, 172 digs, and 57 aces in 171 service attempts) helped Ridgefield win its second consecutive CIAC Class L title. The Tigers finished 23-1 and closed the year with a victory over Darien, which defeated Ridgefield in the FCIAC tournament. He was the player of the match in his two appearances on CPTV Sports this season (May 25 vs. Shelton and June 12 vs. Darien in the state final).

• Colin Minicus – Darien boys lacrosse
The junior attacker had 57 goals and 45 assists this season, including a goal and two assists as the Blue Wave edged Ridgefield 6-5 in the Class L title game. Colin was named an All-American along with 17 other state players and was first-team All-State and All-FCIAC as Darien (20-3) won its 11th state title and ninth since 2005.

• Jason Seidman – Amity boys tennis
The Northwestern-bound seinor was 22-0 this season and won the CIAC State Open Boys Tennis title with a 6-1, 6-0 against Norwalk’s Seji Hosokowa in the final. Seidman only lost two sets all year. The Spartans also won the Class LL team title. “He had to make the players on the team better every day during practice in order for us to win a state championship,” Amity coach Chris Raffone told Joe Morelli of the New Haven Register. “He will go down as one of the greatest tennis players in Amity history, right up there with (former ATP Tour pro) Lou Gloria.”